Funeral Rites

uneral Rites arrived in early in 1993 with founding members Luis Carlos (guitar) and Lazaro Sanchez (drums). Shortly thereafter, Funeral Rites recorded their self-titled first demo. After two years of performing live and a few line up changes, in 1996 Funeral Rites released their second recording entitled Seal of Lucifer as a continuation to their first demo. With the growing fan base from the first recording, Seal of Lucifer quickly became a highly sought out demo including new members Luis Martinez (guitar), Pete Satanas (bass), and Nasario Santos (drums).

After two years of playing live shows throughout Texas, Martinez left to pursue his own musical activities. Tim Hayes was brought in to fill his place. For Our Kingdom Of Darkness full-length album followed in 1998. The album received nation wide distribution and recognition throughout the underground scene. But the release would be the last for the band with Nasario Santos, for he soon after parted ways with them.

In October of 1999, the band returned to the studio and recorded a 4 song mini-CD entitled DCLXVI with drummer Peter Thomas. The release was buffered with a set of shows on the road before Thomas left to dedicate himself to his original band and join his brother in their project, Agony Within. CM Lord, an unknown drummer at the time, would be the replacement. Live shows and studio work was done with CM Lord on drums, but due to various problems, this work remains unreleased at time of printing. CM Lord left the band for personal reasons, however, and was replaced by Steve Richardson. The ending of 2001 was also the ending of Tim Hayes' duties with the band, John Ramos would replace him a few months later. Heaven Falls Bleeding (2002) would follow soon after.